Levada () is a station on the

Kharkiv Metro The Kharkiv Metro () is the rapid transit system that serves the city of Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine. The metro was the second in Ukraine (after Kyiv Metro, Kyiv) and the sixth in the Soviet Union, USSR when it opened on 22–23 ...

Kholodnohirsko–Zavodska Line The Kholodnohirsko–Zavodska line (, ) is a line of the Kharkiv Metro, serving Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...

, from 1975 until 2024. The station is located in the southern part of the city's center, at the beginning of the ''Aerokosmichna'' street, and near the Kharkiv-Levada Railway Station and the nearby bus station, which accounts for the station's fairly large passenger traffic. The station was to be decorated in traditional Ukrainian motifs and lettering. On the walls there were supposed to be

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s depicting grasses and flowers. However, the

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

governing board did not approve of the plans, and some time before the grand opening of the station, the architectural details were taken off, to be replaced with a more standard type of station. The station is lain shallow underground and is a pillar-trispan, with square columns. The station itself was designed by V.A Spivachyk and P.G. Chechelnitskiy; engineered by P.A. Bochikashvili and V.S. Kotov; and decorated by A.F. Pronin and G.V. Tischenko. For the most part, blank marble was used, although grey granite was also used for the background of the station's name, which is seen in large aluminum letters. The lighting comes from groups of lamps placed in between the "ribs" (bars) of the ceiling. The floor has been paved with polished flags of grey and black granite. Coming from the side of the station vestibule, the walls are made of light-rose coloured marble, ''Gazgan''. The station has no escalators, since it is put shallow, and instead has wide stairs, above which are installed architectural

stained glass window Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

s depicting the triumph of the first man in space,

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...

. On 26 July 2024, the station was renamed to Levada as part of efforts towards

decommunization Decommunization in former communist states is the process of purging former communist high officials and eliminating communist symbols. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally used during t ...

and

derussification Derussification (or derussianization) is a process or public policy in different states of the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union or certain parts of them, aimed at restoring national identity of indigenous peoples: their language, culture ...

References

External links

Prospekt Gagarina on Gortransport Kharkiv site
{{Kharkiv Metro Kharkiv Metro stations Railway stations in Ukraine opened in 1975